लोकगीत

Bihu naam (Bihu geet)Assamese

Spring, the kopou phool orchid, the cuckoo, and courtship conducted almost entirely in metaphor. Sung antiphonally between young men and women, and traditionally frank in a way the rest of the year is not.

कब गाया जाता है: Rongali Bihu, April.

HusoriAssamese

Blessing songs sung by a troupe that goes from courtyard to courtyard through Bihu week, singing for the household's prosperity and being fed and given a gamosa in return.

कब गाया जाता है: Bohag Bihu.

BorgeetBrajavali

Devotion to Krishna in a form Sankardev built specifically so that ordinary people, not Sanskrit scholars, could sing it.

कब गाया जाता है: Daily prayer in namghars and sattras.

ZikirAssamese

The unity of God and the vanity of worldly attachment, expressed in Assamese village imagery — the boat, the river, the harvest.

कब गाया जाता है: Sufi gatherings, and community singing.

Tokari geetAssamese

Devotional and moral ballads, sung solo to a two-string drone, often by a singer moving between villages.

कब गाया जाता है: Sung by wandering singers with a tokari lute.

Biya naamAssamese

Sung by the women of the household through every stage of an Assamese wedding, from the bath to the departure, with a separate song for almost every ritual.

कब गाया जाता है: Weddings.

Nao khelor geetAssamese

Rowing songs whose metre sets the stroke, from a valley where the boat was the road.

कब गाया जाता है: Boat racing on the Brahmaputra.

Goalpariya lokogeetGoalpariya

The songs of the western districts — including "Hastir kanya", the mahout songs about elephant handlers and the women who wait for them, brought to national attention by Pratima Barua Pandey.